NEW CHANGES IN THE CNPS RARE AND ENDANGERED PLANT INVENTORY

The new ranking system used within the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants, announced about a year ago, is now coming into wide use. The new system changes how California plants’ rarity and endangerement are expressed. The 2003 version of the Inventory assigned each species a ranking under the R-E-D code: Rarity, Endangerment, and Distribution. A value of 1 (least threat), 2 (moderate threat), or 3 (highest threat) denoted ranking within each category. In practice, CNPS’ standard rarity rankings—List 1A, 1B, 2, 3, and 4—were widely used but the R-E-D code was not.

The new system abandons the R-E-D code. Instead, a code extension signifying the degree of Threat is added to a species’ List designation, replacing the Endangered portion of the R-E-D code. The extension is added to the List rank following a decimal point, for example List 2.2 or List 1B.1. The new codes are:

.1 - Seriously endangered in California.

.2 – Fairly endangered in California.

.3 – Not very endangered in California.

The Threat Code ranking is based on habitat vulnerability and specificity, distribution, condition of occurrences and other factors. CNPS has elected to use State Rank and Global Rank in place of the R-E-D code’s other elements. (These R-E-D elements will continue to appear in the California Native Natural Diversity Database.). List 1A (presumed extinct in California) and some List 3 (need more information—a review list) are not given extensions at this time due to lack of threat information. See www.cnps.org for details on these codes and their application.

The new system’s advantage is that it is easier to remember and work with than the old R-E-D code. The reviewer instantly knows one additional piece of information simply by looking at the threat extension. However, since the system is new, local experts have generally not had the opportunity to fully review it. Most threat extensions for OC's plants appear to be correct but a few should probably be modified; see notes on the list, below.

Fred Roberts and Dave Bramlet, co-chairs, Rare Plants

Revised Inventory Rank for Orange Co. CNPS plants are listed below.

Scientific Name	Common Name	Rank
Abronia maritima	red sand-verbena	CNPS 4.2
Abronia villosa var. aurita	chaparral sand-verbena	CNPS 1B.1
Aphanisma blitoides	aphanisma	CNPS 1B.2
Asplenium vespertinum	western spleenwort	CNPS 4.2
Aster defoliatus	San Bernardino aster	CNPS 1B.2
Astragalus brauntonii	Braunton’s milkvetch	CNPS 1B.1
Astragalus pycnostachyus var. lanosissimus	Ventura marsh milkvetch	CNPS 1B.1
Atriplex coulteri	Coulter’s saltbush	CNPS 1B.2
Atriplex davidsonii [Atriplex serenana var. davidsonii,]	Davidson’s saltscale	CNPS 1B.2
Atriplex pacifica	south coast saltbush	CNPS 1B.2
Atriplex parishii var. parishii	Parish's brittlescale	CNPS 1B.1
Baccharis malibuensis	Malibu baccharis	CNPS 1B.1
Brodiaea filifolia	thread-leaved brodiaea	CNPS 1B.1
Calandrinia breweri	Brewer’s calandrinia	CNPS 4.2
Calandrina maritima	seaside calandrinia	CNPS 4.2
Calochortus catalinae	Catalina mariposa lily	CNPS 4.2
Calochortus plummerae	Plummer's mariposa lily	CNPS 1B.2
Calochortus weedii var. intermedius	intermediate mariposa lily	CNPS 1B.2
Camissonia lewisii	Lewis’s primrose	CNPS 3
Centromadia parryii subsp. australis [Hemizonia p. subsp. australis]	southern tarplant	CNPS 1B.1
Chaenactis glabriuscula var. orcuttiana	Orcutt’s pincushion	CNPS 1B.1
Chorizanthe parryi var. fernandina	San Fernando spineflower	CNPS 1B.1
Chorizanthe polygonoides var. longispina	long-spined spineflower	CNPS 1B.2
Comarostaphylos diversifolia subsp. diversifolia	summer holly	CNPS 1B.2
Convolvulus simulans	small-flowered morning-glory	CNPS 4.2
Cordylanthus maritimus subsp. maritimus	saltmarsh bird’s-beak	CNPS 1B.2
Cupressus forbesii	Tecate cypress	CNPS 1B.1
Deinandra paniculata [Hemizonia p.]	paniculate tarplant	CNPS 4.2
Dichondra occidentalis	western dichondra	CNPS 4.2
Dudleya blochmaniae subsp. blochmaniae	Blochman’s dudleya	CNPS 1B.1
Dudleya cymosa subsp. ovatifolia	Santa Monica Mountains dudleya	CNPS 1B.2
Dudleya multicaulis	many-stemmed dudleya	CNPS 1B.2
Dudleya stolonifera	Laguna Beach dudleya	CNPS 1B.1
Dudleya viscida	sticky dudleya	CNPS 1B.2
Eleocharis parvula	small spikerush	CNPS 4.3
Eriastrum densiflorum ssp. sanctorum	Santa Ana River woolly-star	CNPS 1B.1
Euphorbia misera	cliff spurge	CNPS 2.2
Harpagonella palmeri	Palmer's grappling-hook	CNPS 4.2
Helianthus nuttallii var. parishii	Los Angeles sunflower	CNPS 1A
Holocarpha virgata subsp. elongata	graceful tarplant	CNPS 4.2
Hordeum intercedens	vernal barley	CNPS 3.2
Horkelia cuneata ssp. puberula	mesa horkelia	CNPS 1B.1
Imperata brevifolia	satintail	CNPS 2.1
Juglans californica var. californica	Southern California black walnut	CNPS 4.2
Juncus acutus subsp. leopoldii	southwestern spiny rush	CNPS 4.2
Lasthenia glabrata subsp. coulteri	Coulter's goldfields	CNPS 1B.1
Lepechinia cardiophylla	heart-leaved pitcher-sage	CNPS 1B.2
Lepidium virginicum var. robinsonii	Robinson’s peppergrass	CNPS 1B.2
Lilium humboldtii subsp. ocellatum	ocellated Humboldt lily	CNPS 4.2
Lycium brevipes var. hassei	Santa Catalina Island desert-thorn	CNPS 1B.1
Lycium californicum	California boxthorn	CNPS 4.2
Malacothrix saxatilis var. saxatilis	cliff malacothrix	CNPS 4.2
Microseris douglasii subsp. platycarpha	small-flowered microseris	CNPS 4.2
Mimulus clevelandii	Cleveland's bush monkeyflower	CNPS 4.2
Mimulus diffusus	Palomar monkey flower	CNPS 4.3
Monardella macrantha ssp. hallii	Hall's monardella	CNPS 1B.3
Myosurus minimus var. apus	little mouse-tail	CNPS 3.1
Nama stenocarpum	mud nama	CNPS 2.2
Navarretia prostrata	prostrate navarretia	CNPS 1B.1
Nemacaulis denudata var. denudata	coast woolly-heads	CNPS 1B.2
Nolina cismontana	chaparral nolina	CNPS 1B.2
Ophioglosum californicum	California adder’s tongue	CNPS 4.2
Pentachaeta aurea	golden-rayed pentachaeta	CNPS 4.2
Periderida gairdneri subsp. gairdneri	Gardner’s yampah	CNPS 4.2
Phacelia suaveolens subsp. keckii	Santiago Peak phacelia	CNPS 1B.3
Piperia cooperi	chaparral rein orchid	CNPS 4.2
Piperia leptopetala	narrow-petaled rein orchid	CNPS 4.3
Polygala cornuta var. fishiae	Fish's milkwort	CNPS 4.3
Quercus dumosa	Nuttall’s scrub oak	CNPS 1B.1
Quercus engelmannii	Engelmann's oak	CNPS 4.2
Romneya coulteri	Coulter's matilija poppy	CNPS 4.2
Rorripa gambelii	Gambel’s watercress	CNPS 1B.1
Sagittaria sanfordii	Sanford’s arrowhead	CNPS 1B.2
Satureja chandleri	San Miguel savory	CNPS 1B.2
Selaginella asperella	bluish spike-moss	CNPS 4.3
Senecio aphanactis	rayless ragwort	CNPS 2.2
Sidalcea neomexicana	salt spring checkerbloom	CNPS 2.2
Suaeda esteroa	estuary sea-blite	CNPS 1B.2
Suaeda taxifolia	woolly sea-blite	CNPS 4.2
Tetracoccus dioicus	San Diego buttonbush	CNPS 1B.2
Verbesina dissita	big-leaved crown-beard	CNPS 1B.1

NOTES:

- Coulter’s saltbush (CNPS 1B.2) and mud nama (CNPS 2.2) may be more appropriately treated as “high risk” species (CNPS 1B.1 and CNPS 2.1 respectively). In both species, the overall extant populations are limited and significantly threatened.

- Southwestern spiny rush (CNPS 4.2), considering its association with protected wetlands and its broad distribution in coastal southern California, might better be considered a species of low risk (CNPS 4.3).

- San Bernardino aster (Aster defoliatus) has been added to the Inventory since the 6th Edition was published (2001).

- San Diego Sunflower (Viguiera laciniata), CNPS List 4.2, is also found in Orange County but there have been no documented native occurrences.